“research and education infrastructures in the arab …€œresearch and education infrastructures...
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“Research and Education Infrastructures in the Arab region”
MENOG17 Muscat, Oman
19 April 2016
Yousef Torman, Co-Managing Director, ASREN,
14 Arab NREN representatives
ASREN hosted MENOG 11 in Amman, September 2012
What are Research & Education Networks?
– Research and education networks are dedicated networks connecting the Universities, Schools, Research Centers, Hospitals, Museums and any other institution that may have research and education activities.
– National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) are established to provide connectivity and communications services for the research and education communities at the national level
– Regional Research and Education Networks (RRENs) are connecting the NRENs to provide connectivity and services to researchers and educators across the boarders.
• Technological: Satisfy high demand eScience initiatives, Multimedia
Collaboration, Distributed High Performance Computing (HPC, GRIDs) for Earth Sciences, High Energy Physics (CERN, LHC…), Bioinformatics, Computational Chemistry, Radio-astronomy, Engineering Planning (computations, emulations & simulations), Cultural (archiving, collaborative digital access & processing) …
• Social: Common culture of R&E community, Virtual Organizations VOs, collaborative research, tele-education, Smoothing the Digital Divides, affordable high bandwidth linkage to the Global R&E community
• Economic: Demand aggregators: University & school staff, students, researchers. Consolidation & control of diverse public expenditures. Promotion of Information Society (e-Government, e-Business, e-Health). Stimulation of technological & telecom markets Competitiveness
Main Drivers for Research Networks
Major Objectives for R & E Networks
– Provide scientific research and education institutions with reliable means of communication in order to facilitate ease of cooperation and coordination
– Strengthen the notion of partnership and encourage joint scientific research among communities.
– Minimize cost of research by using diversified academic and technical resources to be made available for use on the network with no need for duplicating investment.
– The fact that students, teaching staff, and researchers use such dedicated networks would eventually uplift efficiency and productivity and would boost the concept of creativity and innovation.
NRENs: Major Services
– Unified connectivity to all research and education institutions to provide country-wide standard communication facilities and capabilities to faculty, researchers, students, and staff, leading to better sharing of resources, information, data, knowledge and expertise.
– Consolidated Internet services, with the NREN acting as an ISP to universities and research institutions. Available statistics in some countries have shown that savings can go up to 40% on access costs, while enabling common access policies and configurations at the national level.
– Connectivity to regional research networks, providing opportunities for joint research collaboration and online education initiatives.
– Access to content, common repositories, and library resources of all universities with a unified subscription to all journals and periodicals for all Universities and research centers.
NRENs: Major Services (continued)
– Video conferencing services, media streaming, IP telephony, access federations, and wireless roaming for the purpose of facilitating communications, exchanges of lectures, and coordination of meetings, training and conferences between all users in universities and institutes.
– Consolidated agreements with software vendors on behalf of all Universities for licensing, with savings reaching up to 50% in some cases.
– Common caching, filtering and anti-spam and anti-virus protection services provided by NRENs to all connected institutions.
– Furthermore, an NREN can be eligible to create and manage a national Internet Exchange depending on the regulations of the Country, and provide
domain name registry services and networking consultancy.
Global Network Architecture (GNA)
A coordinated worldwide effort that efficiently interconnects national and multinational R&E Networks around the world in a manner which increases the international reach, capacity, and capability of the global R&E network for the benefit of all countries.
Dave Lambert, President and CEO of Internet2 @TNC2013, Maastricht
National R&E Networks: Not just networks anymore
@TNC 2013
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https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
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R&E Networks are key enabler for UN SDGs
By expanding the scope of community tools, educational resources and scientific applications
By building sustainable internet and human networks
EUMEDCONNECT Programme
EUMEDCONNECT Research and Education network project 2004 -2016 (3 phases), 14M Euro of EC funding The only regional Research and Educational Network in the Arab Region National Research and Education Networks in Algeria (ARN), Egypt (EUN), Tunisia (CCK), Jordan (JUNET), Morocco (MARWAN), Palestine (PALNET) and Syria (HIAST) were connected to its European counterpart GÉANT
More 2 million users in around 700 institutions
NRENs in the Arab region
Regional Efforts,
• PAN Arab Network, 2005 – Initiated by MoICT of Jordan to study the feasibility of using the power
distribution grid network to build a PAN Arab network. The study was sent to the League of Arab States…..
• Rome Declaration 2006 – The Arab MED NREN managers signed a declaration in Rome to work on
establishing a consortium to take the responsibility of creating an Arab Med Network…
• NAP, the Network Access Points 2007 – A business initiative to build Internet exchange points for the Arab region….
• CAMREN 200? – Was proposed as an action for the Rome Declaration….
Launched in Cairo December 2010, Under the Patronage of HE Amro Moussa, Secretary General League of Arab States
• Endorsed by League of Arab States • Chaired by HE Secretary general of League of Arab States • Officially Registered in Dusseldorf Germany as non for profit
company GmbH in June 2011
A legal non for profit organization with Arab NRENs as shareholders for promoting world-class Pan-Arab e-Infrastructures and E-services for the R&E communities to boost Scientific Research and regional Cooperation
• Vision Statement: Pan-Arab collaborative research and education projects and activities, contribute to boost the scientific research, innovation and education levels in the Arab countries by uplifting efficiency and productivity of research and education communities.
• Mission statement: To implement, manage and extend sustainable Pan-Arab e-Infrastructures dedicated for the Research and Education communities and to boost scientific research and cooperation in member countries through the provision of world-class e-Infrastructures and E-services.
Objectives
To build, maintain and
consolidate regional
e-Infrastructures
dedicated to e-Science
and education across
the Arab Countries
To facilitate the
collaboration
and cooperation
among the
researchers and
academicians in
the Arab region
To contribute to
create and
sustain National
Research and
Education
Networks
(NRENS)
Regional network that
Interconnects the NRENs
of the Arab Countries
Harmonization of policies
and standards
Advocating at the regional
level amongst decision
makers and stakeholders
Knowledge
resources,
exchanges
Arabic contents
Usage of e-
Infrastructures
and services
Regional
partnerships
joint research
Supporting
NRENs to
implementing
technological
solutions
Exchange of
expertise and
best practices
Existing Arab NRENs
Morocco CNRST-MARWAN
Algeria CERIST - ARN
Tunisia CCK (RNU)
Egypt EUN
Sudan SudREN
Somalia SomaliREN
Jordan JUNet
Palestine PalREN
UAE Ankabut
Starting (Planned) NRENs
Lebanon CNRS??
Oman TRC
Qatar Qatar Foundation
Syria SHERN, HIAST
No NREN, No Information
KSA KACST – KAUST?
Bahrain
Iraq
Libya
Kuwait
Mauritania
Djibouti
Yemen
Comoros
NREN Status – Arab World - 2011
Existing Arab NRENs
Morocco CNRST-MARWAN
Algeria CERIST - ARN
Tunisia CCK - RNU
Egypt EUN
Sudan SudREN
Somalia SomaliREN
Jordan JUNet
Palestine PalREN
UAE Ankabut
Oman OMREN
Qatar QREN
KSA KACST-ISU
Starting (Planned) NRENs
Lebanon Universities Consortium
Bahrain University of Bahrain
Syria SHERN, HIAST ??
Iraq MOHE
Libya MOHE
Yemen YCIT-HE
Mauritania MOHE & USTM
No NREN, No Information
Kuwait KITS and Kuwait University
Djibouti
Comoros
NREN Status – Arab World - 2017
Shareholders Progress
Shareholders Update http://www.asrenorg.net/about/shareholders.html
Current Shareholders In the Process
Qatar Lebanon
Oman Bahrain Yemen Libya
Expression of Interest
Arab NREN Connectivity Status
There is no regional R&E network connecting the Arab NRENs
SD
JO
MA
TN
FR
QA
AGE -OX
AGE -MAGRIB
AGE -OLP
AGE -OP
ASREN NETWORK
Internet2 & RED-CLARA
APAN & TEIN
WACREN & UBUNTUNET
GEANT
ASREN Network
− Operations by ASREN and GEANT
− ASREN team visited DANTE (GEANT Association in Cambridge to get training
and to agree operations, monitoring, support…
− STM1 Connection to Jordan has been operated.
AGE - OP
− Arabian Global Educational Open PoP
− Installed and operational at London Telicity in cooperation with GEANT and WACREN
− Operational & ready to interconnect
AGE-OX
Implementation in Morocco, KSA, Qatar, UAE, Algeria
Pilots in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Oman, Sudan, Kuwait
ASREN IdP
• ASREN IdP Identity Provider is a SAML standard-based service powered by Shibboleth
• Allows the use of a single identity to sign-in into secure websites, Science Gateways …
• A member of Grid IDentity Pool (GrIDP) federation and currently authenticates the users of several Service Providers
https://idp.asrenorg.net/
Thanks to the CHAIN-REDS Project
ASREN and GEANT in cooperation of Arab NRENs started to work on Pan Arab Federation of Identities Infrastructure.
ASREN Science Gateway
ASREN SGW provides a set of tools, applications, and data that is integrated via a portal with graphical user interface, that is further customized to meet the needs of a specific community.
Thanks to the CHAIN-REDS Project https://sgw.asrenorg.net/
Other SGW
Morocco and Algeria
Global Science Communities
• Groups of experts (researchers and/or academics) from different parts of the world with a common interest, working together on activities, sharing best practice, knowledge and experiences
Four Communities
E-Health First meeting: Feb 2nd
Members: 58
Thematic Leader: Luiz Ary Messina,
National Coordinator of Rute (Rede Universitária de Telemedicina), Brazil.
Environment First meeting: Feb 18th
Members: 28
Thematic Leader: David C. Smith,
Coordinator Intitute for Sustainable Development, The UWI, University of the
West Indies, Jamaica.
Remote Intrumentation First meeting: Feb 25th
Members: 16
Thematic Leader: Patricia Santiago,
Associate Professor Physics Institute, Universidad Autònoma de Mèxico
(UNAM), Mexico.
Biodiversity First meeting: Feb 11th
Members: 31
Thematic Leader: José Ramón Martínez
Professor and researcher of the Universidad Autònoma de santo Domingo
(UASD), Dominic Republic.
ArabConnect for Research and Education
Yousef Torman 2005-2011
Salem Alagtash 2013
Fahem Al Nuaimi 2012
Six months of history, December 2013 to June 2014
We need your help and support
• Internet* organizations • National operators and carriers • Regional and global operators • Regulators and ICT ministries • LAS, ITU, ESCWA… • Technology providers
TNC17 – The Art of Creative Networking
GÉANT invites all community members to actively contribute to shape the future of research and education http://tnc17.geant.org
Linz, Austria 29 May - 2 June 2017
http://eage2017.asrenorg.net
Call for Sponsorship
http://asrenorg.net/eage2017/?q=content/why-get-involved-0
Thank You Yousef Torman
Managing Director
Arab States Research and Education Network, ASREN
www.asrenorg.net